USM Valor
The Valor is an EDF military warship, most likely a cruiser or frigate, in the video game Dead Space; and the setting of the level "Dead on Arrival". It is shown to be patrolling an area in space that the USG Ishimura was operating in; this was all part of the military's plan to destroy the Ishimura, which was in the system illegally. The Valor, under command of Captain F. Cadigan, was waiting for the Ishimura to transmit its location, at which point it would descend upon the Ishimura and destroy it. This information is contained in a military order found on a corpse of Cadigan on the Valor. According to a vessel manifest scan on a console in Chapter 3 of "Thirteen", part 2 of No Known Survivors, the Valor has a total of 67 people aboard: 23 crew members; 3 service personnel; 2 custodial personnel; 1 "Extension/Familial" personnel, probably a wife or girlfriend of one of the crew, who lives on the ship with them but performs no real duties; and 38 personnel in the "Other" category, most likely Marines. The barracks on the Valor, however, has 78 bunks in it, indicating that perhaps the ship was a bit undermanned, thus making it more feasible that a single Slasher could have overwhelmed the crew and sabotaged the ship's systems. Appearances The Valor is seen in full after Isaac killed The Slug on the Ishimura's hull. It is of large size, although reasonably smaller than the Ishimura. Inside, it has a barracks, an infirmary, a firing range, engine room and and is dotted with numerous propaganda posters. It also has a singularity core that is completely compatible with the Ishimura's shuttles and the same weapons, ammo, rigs, lockers and etc., suggesting that the Valor and The Ishimura were built around the same time period, along with being a convenient gameplay conceit. The Valor is first mentioned in the preceding level, after Isaac Clarke managed to realign the communications array of the Ishimura. In their broadcast, the radioman of the Valor mentions picking up one of the Ishimura's escape pods. This pod had a Necromorph aboard, which, despite the valiant fight of the Marines aboard, eventually led to the Valor crashing into the Ishimura. The Valor was also armed with nuclear weaponry, one of which broke open when the Valor crashed into the Ishimura. Due to a safety lock engaging because of the radiation hazard this posed, Isaac had to get rid of the nuclear debris before he could enter via one of the Valor's airlocks. The Marines aboard have partly been turned into necromorphs (although Issac does encounter 3 non-infected Marines, one who dies shortly after he is encountered due to his right leg being dismembered, one who is trapped by a reverse gravity panel, and he glimpses one Marine who runs through a door that locks shortly after, as well as dozens of non-infected bodies, suggesting they died in the crash), but due to the fact that they had stasis modules in their body armor, they are able to move many times the speed normal Necromorphs can (they are referred to as Twitchers). Isaac boards the Valor to retrieve the singularity core to power a shuttle to escape; but in the process Hammond is killed by a Brute (who rips his leg off and throws him through a glass screen) and the Valor's engine is destabilized and explodes, causing irreversable damage to the Ishimura. Controversy There is much controversey in the Dead Space community over the infection of the Valor. Controversey includes: * How was the Valor crew infected if there wasn't an Infector aboard to infect the corpses? Theories: :* There is another vector to corpse infection besides Infectors. (Unlikely, given there has been no mention of anything other then Infectors and the Hive Mind being able to act as an infection vector in any of the media, although this theory has the fringe benefit of explaining why an audio log made by Commander Cadigan states there was multiple hostiles) :* The crew was not infected until after the crash into the Ishimura and Infectors gained access to the ship. While an audio diary made by Commander Cadigan states that there were multiple hostiles, this does not refute this theory; it could be either the log was made after the crash or (most likely) the necromorph's rapid movement throughout the ship via the vents led the Commander to believe there were multiple hostiles. :* There was an Infector which was undetected by Hammond in the escape pod, or that the Slasher somehow "morphed" into an infector while in the escape pod. * How did an entire ship of marines fail at killing a slasher when one engineer could kill an entire ship full of necromorphs? Theories: :* The marines weren't aware of the essential task of dismemberment, which is the only way to kill Necromorphs (Very unlikely, given the marines had prior knowledge of the threat and how to contain it) :* The marines did not have the necessary armaments to effectively combat the Slasher (also highly unlikely, for the same reason as the above theory. Also, given that multiple ammo types are stored on the Valor, this suggests the marines also had access to other types of weaponry included, giving them much the same arsenal as Isaac likely more powerful, given their military nature. Even if the soldiers only had pulse rifles, the pulse riflehas been shown to act as an effective weapon, particularily against weaker enemies like the Slasher). :* The Slasher managed to sabotage systems aboard the Valor, causing it to crash. (Very likely, given it explains the myriad of explosions seen on the hull of the Valor prior to crashing as well as explaining why the marines were unable to do overcome the Slasher). It is highley likely that these details were simply overlooked by the Dead Space Team, and are simply plot holes. Notes *The logo seen throughout the ship includes the Chinese character 天(tian) meaning heaven or sky, suggesting that the Valor was Chinese built, akin to the Ishimura's Japanese origin. *The vessel's Singularity Core is an in-joke; it's shaped like a Flux Capacitor. *While the "US" in "USM" is still unclear, the M clearly stands for Military, as the civilian ships Ishimura and Kellion are both named "USG". Category:Content Category:Spaceships